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The Gosvamin's writings present a well-articulated metaphysical system, the complexities of which I can only hint at here. For the discussion which follows, however, it is essential to have at least an acquaintance with the two central metaphysical doctrines of the school, that of the three-fold nature of Krsna as brahman, paramatman, and bhagavat, and that of his three-fold divine power or sakti. Significantly, these doctrines are not, as in the traditional Vedanta, supported by reference to portions of the Upanisads. Rather, they are based on the Gosvamins' interpretation of carefully selected passages of the Visnu and Bhagavata Puranas. 27 It is important to realize that in this system Krsna occupies the place of the supreme principle. The Upanisadic Brahman, which even in the theistic versions of Vedanta 28 enjoys that honor, is here relegated to a subordinate position. This understanding is enshrined in a unique conception of the nature of the deity, as authority for which Jiva Gosvamin, the school's chief metaphysician, cites Bhagavata-purana 1.2.11: The knowers of Reality declare that non-dual consciousness (jnana) is the ultimate Reality. It is called "brahman, paramatman, #29 and "bhagavat. 31 This verse could easily, and perhaps more convincingly, be given an Advaitic interpretation by recognizing brahman and

125 so on as various designations of the same undifferentiated, "non-dual" consciousness. 30 JIva, however, choses to identify the three terms as names of distinct aspects of Krsna. These aspects in his theory constitute an ontological hierarchy, arranged, in the order given in the verse, from lowest to highest. Note first that brahman is only a partial form of Krsna, his unqualified (nirvisesa) aspect. From the Bengal Vaisnava point of view, the unqualified reality is far from being a complete expression of the ultimate. It is spoken of as being merely Krsna's aura, the glow (prabha) emanating from his body. Those following the path of knowledge are able to realize only this limited manifestation of Krsna's fullness, which appears to them in the form of pure consciousness. The paramatman is a higher and more perfect expression of Krsna than brahman. It is the Lord as the indweller and inner controller of the world and the individual souls (jIvas), 31 the ground of the phenomenal universe. Since in their meditations they attain the Lord in this more complete form, the practitioners of yoga are better off than the jnanins. The total fullness of Krsna, however, appears only in his highest manifestation as bhagavat, realizable only by his devotees, through bhakti. In this aspect, which

126 contains and surpasses the other two forms, the Lord is revealed in his essential nature as a personal being possessed of infinite attributes and powers. 32 The Vaisnavas thus reject the Advaitins' notion that the unqualified Brahman is a higher realization than the qualified. Indeed, they reverse it. Their entire argument for the superiority of bhakti to jnana--and also, as we shall see, to moksa--is based on two related principles: (1) the notion that the savisesa ("qualified") bhagavat is, metaphysically speaking, a higher and more inclusive reality than the nirvisesa ("unqualified") brahman and (2) the idea that the savisesa realization of the Lord in devotion is, in experiential terms, correspondingly superior to and more satisfying than the nirvisesa realization of brahman through knowledge. In short, the experience of bhagavat is both more comprehensive and more blissful, in each case abundantly so, than the realization of brahman. The essential difference between brahman and bhagavat is that in the former the deity's Saktis are unmanifest and undifferentiated, while in the latter they are fully displayed. 鈥� 鈥� As Chakravarti explains: The vision [of Brahman] attained by the mode of Jnana is said to be incomplete (asampurnadrsti), for it does not manifest the full vigraha [personal form] of the Bhagavat with all His saktis or powers. Since [the] powers belong to Bhagavat and not to Brahman, the latter, it is said, depends on the sakti of the former even for its manifestation (prakasa). 33

127 The According to this doctrine, bhagavat is the angin ("principal") and brahman is the anga ("subordinate"). realization of bhagavat, therefore, includes the realization of brahman. 34 Since the reverse is not the case, the superiority of bhagavat and bhakti to brahman and jnana is made complete. A second important part of Bengal Vaisnava metaphysics is its analysis of the various powers or saktis of Krsna. Like the Lord himself, these powers are divided into three primary aspects, this time on the authority of Visnu Purana 6.7.60. This verse, frequently cited in the tradition, speaks of a triad of saktis: first para, the "supreme"; second ksetrajna, the "knower of the field," i.e., the inner consciousness; and third avidya, "ignorance."35 JIva explains the three as (1) the svarupasakti ("essential power"), which is the highest and with which Krsna governs his own internal dynamics; (2) the jIvasakti, the power of manifesting individual souls (jIvas); and (3) mayasakti, the power of manifesting the phenomenal universe. 36 The Gosvamins' understanding of the relation of these saktis to Krsna is expressed in their distinctive doctrine of "inscrutable difference and nondifference" (acintyabhedabheda), after which their system is sometimes named. 37 While, as subordinate to the Lord, the powers are different from him, they are at the same time

128 identical with him in a way that, while realizable in mystical experience, is yet rationally incomprehensible. More will be said of these powers, especially the svarupasakti, and the meaning of their relation to bhagavat, in our discussion of the Gosvamins' theory of bhakti, to which we must now proceed.